Brew Log

[BeerBudha]

Ok I know there's gotta be a brew log/ journal on here already but I did a few searches and didn't find one. What do you guys think? What should be changed, whats missing? I've got it set up in an excel spreadsheet but can't figure out how to attach/ insert it. Just imagine some lines making it look a lot more like a chart. The way the spacing is set up it takes up a full page with plenty of room for the ingredients and notes sections.

Recipe Name:
Brew Date: OG: FG: ABV: IBU:
Ingredients:
Cook Details 1st 2nd 3rd 4th
Time/ Temp:
Time/ Temp in Primary:
Date Put Into Primary: Date Put Into Secondary:
Time/ Temp in Secondary:
Date Put Into Secondary: Date Bottled/ Kegged:
Time/ Temp in Bottles/ Keg:
Date Bottled/ Kegged: Date Opened (For Good):
Notes/ Results:

 

[JMSetzler]

I like to keep up with a lot of different things in my log...

Brew Date:
Recipe Name:
Recipe Style:
Ingredients/Times:
Special Steps:
Mash Temps/Times:
Expected Gravities:
Actual Gravities:
Expected volumes:
Actual Volumes:

(if you log the temperature and humidity of your cooking environment, you can also learn to estimate evaporation losses more effectively)

Primary and Secondary fermentation times and temps:
Priming sugar volumes
Bottling date:

I don't typically log my tasting date. I generally never touch a beer until its been in the bottle for at least 4 weeks...

 

[Munsoned]

I have my spreadsheet do an auto calculation of the ABV given the OG and FG cells. I also have a hidden column (in each row) that just lists today's date. That way, I can run other calculations on how many days it has been fermenting, bottle conditioning, etc. For example: I know that as of today, my California Common is 127 days old from the day I brewed it, and that it has been bottled for 99 of those days (i.e., drink up!), but my cider is only 93 days old, and thus needs at least another 3-4 months...

 

[Munsoned]

Just looked at my chart again: I also have a cell that caclulates (roughly) attenuation, another that lists the yeast I used, and another where I put the approximate lag time before visible fermentation started (i.e., 6 hrs, 12 hrs, 18, 24, 36, etc.). Not really necessary, but I find it kind of interesting to see how low I can get lag times and/or increase attenuation by changing aeration systems, etc...

 

[Boerderij_Kabouter]

I use a brewsheet from BeerSmith, Kaiser's logbook, and Kaiser's efficiency analysis sheet.

It takes about 10 extra minutes during the brewday to record anything and causes me to pay better attention throughout the process. My notes are now epic.

 

[Bsquared]

I've been using Beer alchemy, and there is a Batch option like on beer smith, so every time you brew a recipe, you open a batch for that recipe and it allows you to enter in all the actuals of your brew day and save notes for each step of the process. it was $29.99 well spent.